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FRA to Review Class I Railroad Safety
June 09, 2023 >> Safety
FRA to Review Class I Railroad Safety
Written by Marybeth Luczak, Executive Editor
The Federal Railroad Administration (FRA) over the next year will assess the safety of all Class I railroads.
FRA Administrator Amit Bose reported the agency’s intention in a June 1 letter to Senate Majority Leader Charles E. Schumer (D-N.Y.), a copy of which was obtained by Railway Age. The assessments will be similar to FRA’s recent safety culture, practices and compliance review of Norfolk Southern (NS), which the agency on March 8 announced would be conducted following multiple incidents; that announcement came the same day the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) reported it would be conducting what it called a “special investigation of NS’s organization and safety culture,” and one day after the Class I announced a six-point plan to immediately enhance the safety of its operations. The initiatives were based on the NTSB’s preliminary findings on the East Palestine, Ohio, derailment.
According to Bose’s letter, FRA will issue a report summarizing its findings on NS “in the near future.” The agency will also publish reports on all other Class I’s as well as “an overarching final report assessing issues, trends, and commonalities across all railroads reviewed,” Bose wrote.
“Although FRA does not directly regulate a railroad’s safety culture, each assessment report will note the strong aspects of a railroad’s safety culture and recommend changes where there are opportunities for improvement,” Bose wrote. “Each Class I railroad will be asked to develop corrective actions in response to FRA’s recommendations, and FRA will track those to completion.”
{snip}
FRA to Review Class I Railroad Safety
Written by Marybeth Luczak, Executive Editor
The Federal Railroad Administration (FRA) over the next year will assess the safety of all Class I railroads.
FRA Administrator Amit Bose reported the agency’s intention in a June 1 letter to Senate Majority Leader Charles E. Schumer (D-N.Y.), a copy of which was obtained by Railway Age. The assessments will be similar to FRA’s recent safety culture, practices and compliance review of Norfolk Southern (NS), which the agency on March 8 announced would be conducted following multiple incidents; that announcement came the same day the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) reported it would be conducting what it called a “special investigation of NS’s organization and safety culture,” and one day after the Class I announced a six-point plan to immediately enhance the safety of its operations. The initiatives were based on the NTSB’s preliminary findings on the East Palestine, Ohio, derailment.
According to Bose’s letter, FRA will issue a report summarizing its findings on NS “in the near future.” The agency will also publish reports on all other Class I’s as well as “an overarching final report assessing issues, trends, and commonalities across all railroads reviewed,” Bose wrote.
“Although FRA does not directly regulate a railroad’s safety culture, each assessment report will note the strong aspects of a railroad’s safety culture and recommend changes where there are opportunities for improvement,” Bose wrote. “Each Class I railroad will be asked to develop corrective actions in response to FRA’s recommendations, and FRA will track those to completion.”
{snip}